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Philosophical approaches tothe dilemma of death with
dignity
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Some of the main philosophical
theories about morality tries to deal
with the issue of voluntary
euthanasia.
The moral similarity betweenvoluntary euthanasia and suicide
enables us to make a reasonable
guess about what some of the great
philosophers would say about
voluntary euthanasia.
The question that now arises is
whether it is morally permissible for a
doctor actively to bring about the
death of his patient at the patient's
request and whether the law should
be altered to permit this.
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Death with Dignity
Dignity is although a very complex
concept.
Dignity involves: not being dependent on
other people or on things; self-control andautonomy; privacy; the maintenance of
one's own standards, of all kinds; self-
esteem.
A death with dignity is a death which
enables the dying person to retain the
elements of dignity which he or she
values.
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UtilitarianismTraditional philosophical theories about
morality have often aimed to find a criterion
of morally right action.
We can divide such theories into two groups:
those which hold that the right action is
always that which produces the best
consequences, and those which hold that the
right action is not always that which produces
the best consequences.
Theories of the first kind are called
Consequentialist theories; theories of the
second kind are called Deontological
theories.
The first question that arises about Universal
Consequentialism is: what counts as good
consequences?
John Stuart Mill says Utilitarianism good
consequences are simply happiness, andhappiness is pleasure and freedom from pain
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Hedonistic & Idealistic
UtilitarianismUtilitarianism suggest that good consequences depend not only on thequantity of pleasure but also on the quality of the experiences.
Hedonistic and the Ideal Utilitarian would certainly argue that voluntary
euthanasia is often right.
The Hedonistic Utilitarian would say that situations often arise in which aperson's continued existence brings more pain than pleasure both to them
and to all those who are distressed by their suffering - not to speak of the
resources which are being spent on keeping them alive and which would
produce more happiness if used in other ways.
The Ideal version of Utilitarianism is even more in tune with the views of
those who advocate the possibility of death with dignity through voluntary
euthanasia. For Ideal Utilitarians can counter the familiar objection to
euthanasia - that no one who receives proper expert care need die in pain
and distress - by saying that the good that they seek is not mere absence
of pain, physical or mental, but the preservation of dignity and the exercise
of the human endowment of autonomy.
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Deontology
The Deontologist maintains that some or all actions are right or wrong in
themselves, because of the type of action they are, whether or not they
produce the best consequences.
The notion of a duty not to kill seems at first to rule out euthanasia of any
kind.
But we do not regard the prohibition of killing as absolute: we may think
there can be justified wars or justified capital punishment, or that killing in
self- defence or defence of others is justified.
And it is easier to justify voluntary euthanasia than the killing in these othercases, where the person who dies does not choose to do so.
But when someone requests voluntary euthanasia, he is not only
renouncing the negative right not to be killed; he is also asserting a positive
right to be killed in that particular way.
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Deontology
The issue then arises of who has the duty to provide this, and many
doctors who are happy about letting people die or even about assisting
suicide may not see themselves as having this positive duty.
The negative right to liberty entails that no one may prevent another
person from committing suicide (if he is of sound mind, and so on) or
from helping another person to die if they both wish this
However, there are also secular points of view which give a special
status to human life and which at first sight seem to rule out voluntary
euthanasia.
The typical Deontological approach to the law would be that it should
reflect morality, rather than be independently assessed in purely
pragmatic terms, as with Utilitarianism; if voluntary euthanasia is
morally permissible, the law should allow it.
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Egoism
The Egoist believes that the right action is always that which has the best
consequences for the doer of the action, or agent.
As with Utilitarianism, there are different versions of this doctrine according
to whether the good consequences are seen in terms of maximum
pleasure, minimum pain (Hedonistic Egoism) or in terms of other goodconsequences for the agent, such as his or her self- development or
flourishing.
However, occasions would arise where Hedonistic Egoism, like Hedonistic
Utilitariansm, demands ruthless action.
For example, it would prescribe involuntary euthanasia to a doctor or carer
who would gain a good deal from someone's death, did not care enough
about the victim to miss him personally and could conceal his deed from
anyone who did.
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Egoism
Such people, if rational, would not even feel guilty, for they would
by their creed have done the right thing. A doctrine which
prescribes this, even if on rare occasions, is too much at variance
with our ordinary ideas of morality to be persuasive.
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Final Thoughts
Well-known philosophical theories of morality can be applied to the dilemma
of death with dignity.
One can argue that none of these theories need be interpreted as
forbidding voluntary euthanasia and that several of them can provide aconvincing justification of it.
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